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Saturday, 30 June 2012

.... Hi all! Hope you've had a super day - the weather here has been just fabulous!! It's time to tell you about this month's challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge. This month our theme is:

Teenage Kicks!!!

This means two things to me - I can make one of my favourite style cards (having a teenage boy I make a lot) and it's also the title of one of my favourite songs by The Undertones. I'd forgotten how old it is though; see the video link at the end of the post!!

I've made a card for my son Ben - he'll be arriving in Detroit next Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him. This card is for him. All the wonderful weather we've been having and the fabulous colours from this week's ColourQ - cQc143 challenge gave me the idea of a surfer dude card!!

It'll come as no surprise that I turned to my all time favourite teen set from Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy. The images in this set work perfectly for teen/male cards (they work for girls too). I stamped the circles in pale yellow, added the graphic wave and combined two sentiments. I then added some subtle spatter to the card. I finished off by adding two cool surf boards.

We have a prize for the July winner - a £10 gift voucher from the ladies at The Ribbon Girl. So get your creative juices flowing and play along with our Teenage Kicks theme. I hope this month's challenge is more to your taste - our furry friends didn't get too many players!!

If you can spare your card you can donate it to St Luke's for Tara's fund raising events - do check out our Challenge blog for details of where to send your cards.

I look forward to seeing your creations - this is a fun challenge. And here's the video I promised at the start of this post - The Undertones with Teenage Kicks:

That's all for now - see you later with my card for CR84FN57 - this week's challenge!

..... No card just yet - but I had to share a picture of my lovely NEW car. We drove over to the dealer this morning to collect both our cars. We both have a Ford Fusion - mine's a lovely steel blue and Jonathan's is silver. I posted on FB and Claire asked what I was calling him - love that colour, so he's called Blue!!

Did I say he's NEW? This is the first time I've ever had a brand, spanking new car - and it's just fab. He has that lovely new smell and drives like a dream. Can you tell I'm doing a happy dance?

That's all for now - we're off out to a party this afternoon. One of our UK friends who moved over with us is hosting an Olympic themed party. Let the games begin!!!!

My card is tiny; in the UK it would be called an A7 card. It measures 74 x 104 mm (2 3/8" x 4 1/8") - it's really sweet. I decided to play with some of my new stamps from There She Goes Stamps - they make really fun images. I have a lot of cyber buddies and so I made this card.

I really like this computer setup and the sentiment is just perfect. I coloured the image with Promarkers and decided to add an image to the monitor screen - love the tiny bats!!

It was so hot here yesterday - we reached 38C (100F) by the afternoon - perfect weather to splash around in the pool!! I went in too!! And today we are expecting much the same, so we're off out early to get the shopping done before it gets too warm!! See you soon.

Thursday, 28 June 2012

... is so precious to me. So I've made a mini scrapbook page all about my special girl. I don't think Kathryn realises just how much I love her - despite the pouts, the grumps, and stuff!! It's all washed away when she comes up hugs me and tells me she loves me. Kathryn is 10½ years old, but I think we've already hit the teen attitude!! I based the page on this week's sketch at Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC103. Edna Morrisedie designed this sketch - it's a hard one, but I think I can play with it again soon.

Yesterday we went to see Brave, the new Pixar movie, it was really good. The heart of the story is the relationship between the Princess Merida and her mother Queen Elinor - it made both of us cry and hug!! And I sort of made this minipage because my girl is brave, smart, beautiful and amazing - and I had all the stamps to say so!!

Here's this week sketch:

That's all for now. We're off to the pool now to cool down - it's really, really hot here now 35C (95F). Wish I could send some of the sun and heat to the UK. See you soon.

Monday, 25 June 2012

.... The inspiration photo from the current Runway Inspired Challenge - RIC14 is the most elegant shoe. Heels to die for - almost literally!!! When I was younger I loved high heeled shoes, sadly now I'm older, they don't like me :) I knew that I had the perfect image for my card - an elegant summer court shoe designed by Jak Heath. As this is a summer shoe I'm also submitting the card to this week's Charisma Cardz - CC24 where the theme is summer.

I know some people might think this weird, but today would have been my sister's 50th birthday. Tracey died last year and it just doesn't seem right that she's not here to celebrate her 50th, so I've made this card because I miss her. Tracey loved to shop and while shoes were not her object of choice, she would have loved a pretty pair like this - but maybe with lower heels :))))

Sunday, 24 June 2012

.... today is not only the start of our new colour challenge at CR84FN - it is also Mona's birthday!! So I've used our gorgeous CR84FN57 colours of bright pink, tan and a neutral, and the layout from this week's Mojo Monday Sketch - MOJO246 to make a special card for Mona.

I'm normally more of a clean and simple girl, but I like to try my hand at layers occasionally, and I really like the MOJO sketch, however, I have turned it on its side! I started with some Very Vanilla card stock which I made into the card base I found this bright pink card in my scrap box (don't know which company) and decided to use that to make the mat layers. I've used designer paper from Kaisercraft and Papermania to decorate the card. And, as this is a birthday card, I decided to include some cupcakes. I stamped the images several times onto designer paper, cut out the layer and attached them to the card. I coloured the little flowers with a Sakura glaze gel pen - they have a lovely shine in real-life!

Mona - I hope you have a fabulous birthday and that you've received your card!

Sadly, both Suzanne and Lisa will stepping down from the CR84FN Design Team following this challenge. They have both been really inspirational designers and very supportive, and I wish them both well in their future endeavours. Do drop by their blogs and leave some love!

I hope you all have a super Sunday - my plans include watching the England v Italy football quarter final! I hope England goes through!!! Bye for now!

Saturday, 23 June 2012

.... I'm on a roll!! Here's another card for Less is More - LIM73 and CAS-ual Fridays - CFC58 - I'm really enjoying these challenges!! This time my card is a general "Hello" card. I stamped the flourish directly onto the card base, added a clean and bold sentiment and finished off with my layered flower. I added some bling for good measure!!

.... Hi all! Hope you've all had a super Saturday, we've had a fun and rather relaxing day. We started early by visiting our local travel agent to arrange our summer trip - we are planning to drive along the Pacific coast between San Diego and San Francisco!! We should get details later next week. Then it was into downtown Northville to check out the Arts & Acts Festival and to have breakfast. I had a super time checking out the various craft stalls - there are so many very talented people about. Then it was home in time to watch the football quarter final between France and Spain - great match - Spain won!!

I've even managed to get some time in my craft room and made a card for this week's challenges at:

My card is a much needed birthday card for my stash. It's square and I've matted three shades of pink card to form the base. On to that I've attached a white mat. I stamped a simple frame and sentiment and added a layered pink flower - very clean and simple!

I love the brilliant blue colour on the PDCC graphic - so striking. Then I saw the theme for DYSU? And the rest was easy. One of my all time favourite films is David Lynch's Blue Velvet. It's not an easy film, and it may be one you either love or hate, but I love it! The acting is absolutely fantastic and features two of my favourites - Isabella Rosellini and Kyle MacLachlan. There are some amazing images in the film and one that stands out for me is the roses against a fence:

So the film Blue Velvet, and the image above are the inspiration for my card. I've changed the red roses to blue roses. I've changed the white picket fence too; on my card it is a black ornate metal fence. I've gone for overblown roses. I stamped them in water soluble ink on watercolour paper and lightly spritzed each flower, allowing the colour to bleed. Once the roses were dry, I over stamped the rose outline and cut them out. I used Pinflair to attach the roses and to give some dimension to the card. I decided not to include a sentiment, but to let the image stand on its own.

I've kept it really simple - I used the red, white and blue to make a vellum layered doily which reminds me of the Royal Air Force roundel. I stamped each image using Versamark on vellum, embossed them with coloured powders and then simply cut them out. I like the way you can see the patterns through each layer. I stamped this very elegant cat onto white card, cut her out and attached her to the card on top of the doily. I finished off with s simple sentiment.

There's still plenty of time to join in with St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - this month we want you to make a card featuring our furry friends. It's a bit quiet on the blog; we would really like to see your creations - do pop over and join us. This month the prize for our June winner is a set of stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps - Text-It, so very useful!

The first week of Kathryn's summer holidays has been super. We've had some extremes in the weather with a big thunder storm on Monday and hot, hot days since then. We've been out shopping, to the cinema and just chilling (literally with the air con) in the house. It's been fun!

Today the European Football quarter finals start - we do get to watch the matches over here, but we really do miss the atmosphere! There are lots of sports bars in the States and they show all sorts of games, but there's no excitement or enthusiasm for football (or soccer as they call it here). Jonathan can only watch the weekend matches - which is good as England play on Sunday!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an England v Spain final!!!

That's all for now - off to do a bit of mundane stuff - a stack load of ironing!! See you soon.

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

..... I meant to post this card before I went out this morning, but better late than never!!! This week's One Layer Wednesday - OLW93 is being hosted by Heather of bits & pieces. Heather is sending us to our kitchens to find inspiration for our cards. For me this was easy! On top of the cupboards in my kitchen is a lot of "stuff" - it was all here before we moved in and I've been meaning to move it.

However, I'm glad I've not moved it yet - I've got the perfect inspiration for my card! I rather like the cockerel and it gives me the opportunity to use my Waltzingmouse cockerel.

This is an ultra clean and simple card - it's also quite small, being a 4" x 4" card. I simply stamped the cockerel in black, masked him off and the placed a stencil over the top. I sponged through the stencil with my distress inks. I finished off with a bright and breezy sentiment. The cockerel is calling in the dawn!

I was told that summers in Michigan could be hot - and they weren't kidding!!! Yesterday was stifling - it was 35C and very, very humid and today is almost as hot at 33C but a lot less humid which makes a big difference. I had promised not to use the air conditioning before we came here, but I am so, so grateful we have it. Coming into the house this afternoon was bliss - a blast cool, fresh air - lovely! I'd like it just a tiny bit cooler - the high 20C would be fab!

Sunday, 17 June 2012

.... not only is today Father's Day, it's also time for the June Waltzingmouse Blog Party - details can be found here. This month we have been given a photo for inspiration - we can use anything from the photo - the colours, the shapes, the blossoms, the chairs - whatever takes your fancy! We can use the picture to inspire us!

I really like the colour palette so have used that to make a Father's Day card for Jonathan. Kathryn was going to make a card, but asked me instead - and I don't need any excuse to play!! I've used this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch - WMSC102 (designed by Edna Morrisedie) for the layout. As soon as I saw the semi-circle I thought of the moon!! So it was obvious where my design would go.

I've adapted the sketch - but only a bit!!

I added some shading to the dark grey/blue background to create a night sky. I found the moon image on the Internet and cut it out with a circular Spellbinder die. I stamped the rocket on white card and coloured it with Promarkers. The sentiment is a perfect fit with the moon/space theme - don't you love the font? I finished off by making a large star. Kathryn was really pleased with the card.

As a special Father's Day treat, Kathryn and I decided to make Jonathan a fruit cake. Only it turned out to be more of a fruit bread than cake! Still, it tasted good. Next time I'll have a go at a proper cake! And Jonathan has decided how to spend Father's day. It's been relatively lazy - we collected my car, Jonathan did some photography stuff and this afternoon he's watching the European Football Championship.

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A Bit About Me

Hi! Thank you for stopping at my little bit of the Internet. I’m a Brit living in Michigan and loving it! Well, the winters are tough! But the summers - ah, they're great!
I’m married to my best friend, Jonathan, and we have two fantastic kids – Ben and Kat.
My passion for crafting has exploded since moving to the States, and I’m fortunate that Jonathan is very supportive, or perhaps that should be tolerant, of my crafting addiction! If I’m not in my craft room, then you might find me reading, taking photos, or simply spending time with my family.

Stay Connected

Uniko Studio Design Team

The Male Room - Design Team

For your masculine themed challenges - come and play!

House of Cards - Top 5

Goes to my lovely autumn leaf - thanks

Creative with Stamps - Top 3

Goes to my lovely autumn leaves - thanks!

City Crafter Challenge - Spotlight Artist

Goes to my Green 12 Days of Christmas Card!

MUSE - Featured Member

Goes to my Starry Sky card. Thanks!

Cupcake Inspirations - Sweet Six

Goes to my bold starry birthday card!

Freshly Made Sketches - Perfect Princess

Thanks so much - goes to my geometric masculine card!

Cupcake Inspirations - Sweet Seven

Goes to my lush succulents card. Thanks!

Creative with Stamps - Honourable Mentions

Goes to my Pure Florals Lily card! Thank you.

CAS - Colours & Sketches - Weekly Winner

Goes to my spot colour masculine card - thanks ladies!

Jingle Belles - Featured Card

Goes to my vintage Christmas Card.

Can You Can It? - Top Six

Thanks - goes to my VW Bug!

HLS CAS Challenge Favourite

Goes to my Christmas Candy cane card.

HLS CASE The Designer Favourite

Goes to my outline Birthday Wishes card!

Less is More - Winner

Goes to my OLC Birthday Wishes - LIM#306

Sunday Stamps - Top Cup

Goes to my latte love coffee card! Thanks so much.

CAS-ual Friday Favourite

Goes to my Stay Positive guy card! Thanks!

House of Cards - Top Winner

My very clean and simple autumn seeds and leaves. Thanks!

1st Place @ AAA Cards

My one layer masculine card won! So excited - thanks!

MUSE - Honourable Mention

Goes to my geometric thank you card! Thanks to the team - absolutely thrilled!

You are more than welcome to use them for inspiration (please link back), but please do not copy directly for submission to competitions, blogs or to submit for publication. If you have any questions please email me. Thank you.